


How You Get The Girl

by FINALLEVEL



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Battle of the Bands, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gen, M/M, Slow Burn, catra plays bass, childhood best friends to rivals to friends to lovers, flower shop scorfuma au, glimbow lives together but theyre not dating yet (and they were roommates), if this is a lemonade mouth au no it isn't, payless is a metaphor for the horde, perfuma works at a flower shop bc of course she does, rogelio canonically wrote the song speak now by taylor swift, sea hawk works at a kayak shop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:14:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29112858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FINALLEVEL/pseuds/FINALLEVEL
Summary: Adora, Bow, Glimmer and Perfuma are in trouble. Their bassist, Entrapta, quit on them, and they need someone to replace her before the Battle of the Bands auditions. Little do they know that Entrapta joined the Horde - a band formed by Adora's old childhood best friend-turned-stranger, Catra.Follow Adora and the rest of the princesses of power in this modern day AU full of fluff, slow burn, and fun as they compete in the Battle of the Bands and the battle of their own love lives. New chapter every Wednesday and Sunday.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra), Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 36





	1. This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

Adora checked her watch again. It was still 4:43.

“She’ll be here.” Glimmer put her phone back in her pocket, chewing her bottom lip.  
“If she’s not, we can always just have a freestyle jam practice,” Perfuma said, her smile not quite as easy going as usual. “Those are always fun, right?”

A steady plucked C sharp sounded from where Bow was sitting with his violin relaxed over his legs. “I don’t know,” he said slowly, looking around. “Auditions are in, what, three weeks? We really need to spend our practices, you know, actually practicing.” 

No one responded. Everyone just sort of looked uncomfortable, and Perfuma offered a small pout that quickly faded. The clock ticked, and there was the smattering of quiet notes that accompanies a room full of people with instruments in front of them and nothing else to do. At some point, Bow pulled out his own phone to check for notifications he knew wouldn’t be there. The room was a lot quieter without his anxious plucking. 

At 4:45, Adora stood up. 

“I’ll call her.”

The phone rang a few times, and then went to voicemail: “Hi! This is Entrapta! I can’t come to the phone right now because I’m busy or I forgot it at home, but leave a message!” The dial tone beeped. “This inbox is full. You cannot -- ” Adora groaned, hung up, and hit her forehead with the palm of her hand.

“This is, like, the third practice in a row she’s missed!” Glimmer set her drumsticks down and walked over to Adora. “This is getting ridiculous.”

“She’s probably going through something right now,” Bow said. He sighed. “Or caught up working on a project, knowing her. But… we really do need to practice.”

“I think it’s time we maybe talk about… you know. Looking at other options.” Glimmer looked up at Adora for a reaction, looking slightly guilty. 

Adora met her eyes with a furrowed brow which transitioned into narrowed eyes. “Hang on,” she said slowly. “You aren’t saying we should kick Entrapta out of the band, are you?”  
Glimmer didn’t respond, just looked slightly more guilty as Adora’s face turned from narrow eyes to outright indignation. Glimmer opened her mouth to reply, but Perfuma decided to speak up, looking up the fidget cube she’d been pushing on while they waited. 

“Is it really kicking her out if she isn’t showing up?” she asked, earning herself a glare from Adora. Her face went a little pink and she looked back at the cube in her hands. 

“Adora, I know this is hard, but if we’re serious about getting this project off the ground, we need everyone to be in it 100%,” Bow said. “And Entrapta … isn’t.” Glimmer and Perfuma nodded.

“Maybe before we make any rash decisions,” Adora countered, “we at least see what’s keeping her up. It would be messed up if we kicked her out if like, her grandma died or something, right?” 

Glimmer took a beat, mulling it over. “Okay.” She grabbed her coat, which had been slung over a spare chair. “That only seems fair. But, if we can’t find her, or get ahold of her by tomorrow night, we need to move on regardless. Otherwise we don’t stand a chance.”

Adora once again narrowed her eyes, staring Glimmer down. They stood like that for a second, Bow and Perfuma looking at each other and between the two. Then, after a sigh, Adora agreed with a nod, earning a vaguely smug smirk from Glimmer she tried and failed to tamper down. Then, she turns to Bow with a less smug, more genuine smile. “Bow, you feel like driving?”

“So… are we practicing today?” Perfuma asked. “Because I don’t really feel like all of us need to see what she’s up to.”

Bow sighed, reaching for his own coat that was draped under Glimmer’s. “Let’s try again tomorrow. Same time. That work for everyone?” They all nodded. “Okay. I can drive you. Adora, do you want to come, or should I drop you off at your house?”

“I’ll come,” Adora said. They waved to Perfuma and climbed into Bow’s beat up, falling apart minivan. Adora strapped herself into the middle seat in the back while Glimmer took shotgun, as always, much to Adora’s chagrin. She was wearing the slightly smug smirk from earlier, though more successfully hiding it from Adora this time, thanks to the fact that she was facing a totally different direction. 

She busied herself with getting her phone set up to the aux, happily selecting a playlist they’d put together as a group, and moved on to bigger and better things, such as Snapchat. Bow ignored the pout from Adora, smiling at the both of them as he checked to be sure they were both in seatbelts before backing out of Glimmer’s driveway, his arm snaking around the passenger seat to give him better leverage to crane his neck. Glimmer was very pointedly not paying attention to this. 

“Uh … guys?” Glimmer said once they’d gotten on the road. She held up her phone.  
Adora leaned forward to see a Snapchat story of what looked like Entrapta (not that there’s many people who look like her) playing the keyboard in a poorly lit room that looked like a garage. A garage that was not Glimmer’s. The caption read “audition time! 🤗”

“What the hell?”

“What?” Bow kept his head and eyes on the road. “Is everything okay?”

“Entrapta is … playing in some other band. When was this posted, Glimmer?”

“Like twenty minutes ago,” she said, pulling the phone back. “It’s on some random guy’s snap story. I didn’t even think he was in a band. I think he played trumpet in like, high school. I’m pretty sure we went to the same marching band camp one summer.”

“Was it Kyle?” Bow asked. Glimmer nodded. “I think his boyfriend is in a band. Maybe he’s hanging at their practice. Either way, we’re almost at Entrapta’s, and I don’t think she’s home.”

Adora let out a deep breath and flopped back. “I don’t know. Glimmer?”

“I think we should come back tomorrow and talk to her,” Glimmer said. “I mean, we need to talk about this. But we don’t know when she’ll be back. Can one of you text her and tell her we want to talk?”

“Does this Kyle kid have his location on on Snapchat? Why don’t we just go check out this new band and talk to her right now?” Adora said, crossing her arms.

“That’s … a little intense,” Bow said, pulling over a few blocks away from where Entrapta’s apartment was. He looked back at Adora.

“Well, not showing up to practice and then going to some other band’s practice is pretty intense!” Adora said. “Intensely uncool, in fact.”

“I know, but it’s also intensely uncool to crash another band’s practice and start drama. We’ll talk to her tomorrow. I’ll text her and let her know we’re free any time to talk before 4:45.” Bow pulled out his phone, sent a quick text, then looked at his passengers with a grin. “Okay, done. Now, who wants coffee?”

***

“This is so much fun!”

Catra winced. She hadn’t seen anyone this excited about playing music with her since…. Well, since Adora.

“Gosh, isn’t it?” Scorpia put down her guitar and grinned at the rest of them. Rogelio shrugged. Lonnie didn’t look up from her phone. Kyle grinned back at her. Entrapta looked back and forth from Catra to Scorpia, her eyes wide. She hopped off the stool and made her way around the keyboard.

“What do you think, boss?” Scorpia asked. 

Catra shrugged. “You’re alright. You want in?”

“Yes, please!” Entrapta grinned. “Very much so!”

“All right!” Scorpia reached out for a high-five. Lonnie put her guitar in its case and packed it up.

“Welcome to the Horde, girl,” she said, nodding to Entrapta. “You ready, Rogelio?”

Rogelio waved to Entrapta and walked out with Lonnie and Kyle.

“This is so exciting! And I have so many ideas for what we could do if…”

Catra turned away and pulled out her phone, letting the rest of what Entrapta was saying drone on. She hadn’t texted Adora in almost a year -- their last text “conversation” was a shitty meme of a cat Adora had sent with the caption “this is you” (which had not made her smile), but something in her made her want to text Adora, maybe rub it in a little.

“You good, boss?” Scorpia asked. Catra jumped and shoved her phone in her pocket, scowling. 

“Fine,” she said shortly, shooting her a look. Entrapta didn’t seem to notice that no one was listening – she was still talking at a million miles an hour.

“So, what do you think? Should we do some band bonding? Laser tag? Maybe a sleepover and movie marathon night?” Scorpia looked at Catra expectantly, smiling brightly.

“Why would we need to have band bonding?” Catra turned away to pack up her things. “We see each other enough at practice every day. Hey, new girl – Entrapta! Entrapta!” She didn’t quite snap her fingers, but she may as well have.

“Yeah?”  
“This time every day except Sundays work for you?”

Entrapta clapped her hands together. “Oh, yes! Absolutely! I mean …” Her eyes widened even more – Catra didn’t see how that was possible, but she did it – and began picking at one of her hangnails.

Catra’s eyes narrowed. “What?”

“Well, I suppose I should probably – I can just – one second,” she said, running over to her bag.

She pulled out her phone and bit her lip. “Uh oh.”

“What’s ‘uh oh?’ Scorpia said you were available.” Catra put her hands on her hips.

“Well, you see, that is what I told Scorpia, but the thing is …” Catra took a step closer. “The thing is nothing! It’s fine! I just forgot about something else, but I don’t – that’s not going to be a problem. I’ll see you tomorrow!” She grabbed the handle out of her purple rolling backpack and shuffled toward the curb where she was parked.

“What the hell was that?” Catra turned to Scorpia.  
“I – uh – I do not know what that was,” Scorpia said. “But I can find out. Yes. I can definitely do that for you.”

“It’s fine,” Catra said. “If she doesn’t have whatever this is fixed by practice tomorrow, then we’ll find a different keyboardist.”

“Okay! Well, you know, if you need a ride home, I could just –”

“I drove here, Scorpia,” Catra said, picking up her bag. “See you later.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I co-wrote this with my best friend who doesn't have an AO3 account and we're going to post updates every week hopefully!


	2. Tim McGraw

**BEST FRIEND SQUAD!!!**

**rosinmybow:** guys I just got this from entrapta

**rosinmybow sent image0.png**   
(a message of a chat log, between bow and entrapta. It reads:

**Entrapta:** hi bow!! Sorry i didn’t reply to your calls or texts. I’ve been caught up in something. I don’t think I can be part of the band anymore! 

**Bow:** what do you mean? Is everything okay?  
**Entrapta:** oh yes, I’m just actually playing keyboard for another band and I can’t do both!  
**Bow:** oh … okay

**Bow:** did we do something wrong?

**Entrapta:** no, i just really like keyboard!! Have fun though your band is super cool!

**Bow:** uh, okay? Good luck, I guess)

**sword lesbian:** bro what the fuck,

**“girl boss”:** ?????? she;s just fucking …. Joining another band and didnt think to tell us???

**“girl boss”:** thats so fucking rude

**Rosinmybow:** I mean, yeah, but … I don’t think we can do anything to change her mind. It’s not like she was super reliable anyways.

**sword lesbian:** sooo .. we need a new bassist?

**rosinmybow:** looks like it.

**“girl boss”:** I think Perfuma knows someone. I’ll text her rn

**sword lesbian:** ok cool

***

Adora rolled around in her bed. She kicked one leg out of the sheets, relaxed for a second, then kicked all her sheets off. She laid there for a moment and then pulled the sheets and blankets back on. She checked her phone. 6:32 A.M. 

She stood up, stretching her arms high above her head with a yawn, and half heartedly pulled the sheets and blanket up to the top of her bed, then went to work getting a pot of coffee started. As the coffeemaker shuddered to life, Adora opened the fridge and peered inside. There was a bit of strawberry jelly, a full container of peppermint mocha creamer, and a single hard-boiled egg in a ziploc bag. 

Adora closed the fridge door and texted Glimmer to ask what her breakfast plans were. She slipped her phone in her sweatpants pocket, shivering. She went back into her room and poked through her closet, but there wasn’t much in there. Most of her stuff was still in half opened boxes stacked in the corner of her bedroom. She opened the top box and dug in a bit, pulling out a red sweatshirt rolled up like a sleeping bag.

She shook the sweatshirt out and snorted some air out of her nose. It said “ETS ORCHESTRA” and had her cheesy high school logo on it -- some kind of weird imp goblin thing that she never really understood. Whose school mascot is “the gremlins”?

She pulled it on, grabbed her keys, slipped her feet into her blue Crocs and headed out to check yesterday’s mail, letting the frigid morning air help wake her up before she could get to her coffee. 

She made it down the stairs and into the lobby before running into anyone else. Someone was at the mailboxes with their back to her. Really? At 6 am on a Saturday? She didn’t think she’d have to worry about running into someone for at least a few more hours. Whatever. 

Well, it would’ve been whatever if she didn’t recognize that thick, full head of hair. Adora’s pulse quickened and her hands started to shake as she descended the last few steps.

“Catra?” Catra turned around and sucked in a quick breath. For a moment, they both stood there, just staring at each other, not moving. Then Adora blinked. “What are you doing here?”

“Getting my mail,” Catra said, holding up a couple envelopes and a magazine. Was that a woodworking magazine? She closed her mailbox. “What are  _ you _ doing here?”

“Oh, uh, getting my mail,” Adora said. She stepped past Catra and stood there, eyes searching for her apartment number.

“But …” Catra frowned. “What are you  _ doing _ here? In my apartment building?”

Adora turned around and leaned her back on the mailboxes. “Checking, uh, my mail,” she said. Her face felt really hot. “I didn’t know that this … that your … uh, I didn’t know that you lived here.” She swallowed. 

Catra’s eyebrows knit together, then relaxed a bit. She gave Adora a small smile.

“Yeah, well, you were never that observant.” She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and crossed her arms. “When did you move to Boulder?”

Adora’s mouth hung open for a couple seconds, then she blinked and swallowed again. “We - I - I moved in like, two weeks ago, I guess. But I’ve been staying in Boulder for a couple months now. So I’ve been here. Just not here. In this apartment.” She tried to stand up straight and banged her elbow on the mailbox. Wincing, she gave Catra an awkward smile. “How, uh, how long have you lived here?”

Catra snorted, and her small smile grew a little bigger. “I’ve been here for like a year or so now. The apartment isn’t amazing, but I like the city.”

Adora nodded a little too enthusiastically. “Yeah, it’s really good. The city. It’s a really good city.” She nodded again and bit her bottom lip.

“So … are you gonna check your mail?” Catra asked, slipping her mail into a bag by her side, first trying to do so without looking and missing, then taking a second to secure the mail. She put her hands on her hips.

“Right! That’s what I’m here to - yes,” Adora said, turning around. She stuck her key into the keyhole and struggled to turn it for a few moments. Catra coughed slightly. Adora took the key out and put it in the keyhole of the next mailbox over. “It’s, uh, my first time,” she said. “Getting my mail.” She managed to open her mailbox, which was completely empty.

Catra tried to bite back her laugh. Adora turned around and shut the mailbox, her face almost as red as her sweatshirt. 

“Guess I don’t have any mail yet!” she said, laughing awkwardly. She crossed her arms, then put them on her hips like Catra’s were, then put them in her pockets and fidgeted around with her keys.

Catra glanced down at Adora’s chest and crossed her arms again.

“Nice sweatshirt,” she said.

Adora looked down and crossed her arms as well. 

“Oh. Yeah. You know. It’s, uh, comfy.”

A noise came from the stairwell, and they both whipped their heads around to see a middle-aged man in a bathrobe coming down the stairs towards them.

“Uh, well,” Catra said, backing away from the mailboxes. “See you around, I guess.” She gave Adora an awkward nod and headed up the stairs.

“Yeah!” Adora said, a little too loudly. Catra glanced back and then took the rest of the stairs two at a time. The man in the bathroom paused in front of her, gesturing that he needed to get to his mailbox. “Oh. Uh, sorry,” she said, heading up the stairs, eyes peeled. But Catra was already gone.

***

**BEST FRIEND SQUAD!!!**

**sword lesbian:** you guys are not going to believe who I ran into in my apt building

**rosinmybow:** Tim McGraw???

**“girl boss”:** omg please tell me u saw fucken tim mcgraw at ur apartment in boulder colorado   
**rosinmybow:** Adora please, we need this

**“girl boss” changed sword lesbian’s username to tim mcgraws new neighbor**

**tim mcgraws new neighbor:** fucking Catra

**rosinmybow:** she lives in the same building as you??

**“girl boss”:** catra? In adora’s apartment building? Its more likely than you think   
**tim mcgraws new neighbor:** yeah I don’t know I ran into her at the mailboxes   
**tim mcgraws new neighbor** : I didnt even know she lived in boulder

**tim mcgraws new neighbor:** what are the odds she’d live in the complex i moved to????   
**“girl boss”:** the lesbian gods are smilling upon u today

**rosinmybow:** how long has she lived here?

**tim mcgraws new neighbor:** shut up glimmer

**tim mcgraws new neighbor** : and uh

**tim mcgraws new neighbor:** idk

**tim mcgraws new neighbor** : I didn’t really ask

**“girl boss”:** so what did you talk about then lol

**tim mcgraws new neighbor:** yknow… mail...

**“girl boss”:** oh my god

**“girl boss”:** u reunite with ur long lost best friend from high school who uve been telling us about for like 3 years and you talk about MAIL????

**rosinmybow:** To be fair I’m sure catra was just as awkward as adora was 

**rosinmybow:** these kind of reunions hardly pan out like you’d want them to in your daydreams 

**“girl boss”:** so are u guys gonna hang out or??    
**“girl boss”:** oooh!! mby she can come to practice tomorrow!! she plays bass, right????

**tim mcgraws new neighbor:** idk … I don’t know if it would be a good idea to talk to her about my band stuff right away

**tim mcgraws new neighbor** : cause that’s kinda why we stopped talking in the first place

**rosinmybow:** :/

**“girl boss”:** :// 

**tim mcgraws new neighbor:** it’s okay. I don’t even know which apartment is hers or if she has the same phone number or anything

**tim mcgraws new neighbor:** I mean I’ll probably just see her around again

**tim mcgraws new neighbor:** cause we live in the same building

**rosinmybow:** it would be hard not to, honestly

**“girl boss”:** yessssss more meet cutes for adora and her long lost love! >:3c

**tim mcgraws new neighbor:** i do not LOVE catra glimmer shut up

**rosinmybow:** Well I’m sure you’ll run into her again. It’s not a big deal

**rosinmybow:** And maybe ease up on the teasing for now, Glimmer? I’m sure the pain of losing her soulmate is once again fresh in her mind

**“girl boss”:** >:(

**tim mcgraws new neighbor changed rosinmybow’s username to thanks king**

**tim mcgraws new neighbor:** yeah it’s not even a big deal idk why I brought it up

**tim mcgraws new neighbor:** im gonna go for my run before practice see you guys soon


	3. Begin Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra and Adora run into each other again- small world, huh?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy valentines day! we're going ahead and posting two chapters since they're both a bit short. thanks for those of you that have read! every kudos and comment is much appreciated, since neither of us have really gotten into publishing fic until recently. hope you enjoy!

Catra shut the door to her apartment, leaned against the door, and slid down to the floor. She let out a long breath and buried her head in her hands. What the hell was Adora doing here? Why didn’t she tell Catra she was coming back to Colorado?

Catra got out her phone and looked at the last text Adora had sent her, over a year ago. She hadn’t responded to her, so why would Adora reach out again? She was just living her best life, on her own. Without Catra.

She put her phone away and got up, shaking her head and rolling her shoulders. At least… Adora had seemed surprised to see her, but not upset. But Adora wasn’t the one who got left behind, so there was no reason for her to be upset. That would be stupid, right? But still, she hadn’t reached out. If anything, that gave Catra even more reason to be upset. 

Walking over to her cabinet, Catra pulled out some corn flakes and a bowl. She tried to forget about Adora and focus on her plan for practice today, but as she was pouring the milk, she found herself replaying the morning’s events in her head. Her hands started to shake, causing her to spill milk all over the counter.

“Thanks, Adora,” Catra muttered, cursing and grabbing some paper towels to mop up the milky puddle. 

***

Catra stomped up the stairs to her apartment, rubbing her eyes. All she could think about was getting to her room, microwaving her pizza rolls, and passing out in her bed. But as soon as she got in, she saw her overflowing hamper sitting in the living room.

She groaned, but she knew if she didn’t do it right now, it would be another week before she had any clean clothes. Gathering all the clothes that had spilled out and putting them back in the hamper, she grabbed the tub of Tide Pods from her bathroom and once again found herself shivering as she headed out the door.  _ I’ll be back for you, Totino's supreme pizza rolls.  _

As she descended the stairs, she could hear someone rattling around in the laundry room and audibly groaned.

“You better be almost fucking done, whoever you are,” Catra muttered as she opened the door, ready to stare down whoever else was in the laundry room and hopefully scare them off. Then she realized she wasn’t ready for that at all, and then she wasn’t thinking anything as she stared at Adora, who was staring back. 

“Hey, Adora,” she blurted, trying to sound natural and hopefully succeeding as she recovered from her small panic. 

“Oh! Uh, hi,” Adora said, grinning awkwardly. She tried to tuck her hair behind her ear, but there weren’t any strands out of place. Her hand flopped back to her side. 

“Let me guess. You’re doing your laundry?”

Adora nodded. “And, uh, I’m guessing that’s what you’re doing too?”

Catra felt a tiny smile creep onto her face. “Guilty.”

“I didn’t realize there was only one washing machine here,” Adora said, pulling her remaining clothes out of the washer and stuffing them in the dryer. “But, good timing, I guess?”

“Yeah, it’s uh. It’s not great,” Catra said, walking over to the washer and starting to load her clothes in there. She eyed Adora as she shut the dryer and started to turn it on. “No dryer sheet?”

Adora turned pink. “Um. Dryer… sheet.” Her brows furrowed together and she bit her lip.

Catra couldn’t help but laugh. “God, you were always a mess at chores,” she said, leaning against the washing machine. “It’s the little sheets that keep your clothes from getting static-y.”

Adora’s eyes light up slightly, looking at the dryer. “Wait, you can make it so they don’t all stick to the … wow.” She gave Catra an awkward grin. 

Catra chuckled again and tossed the Tide Pod into the washing machine. “You want to borrow one?” 

Adora’s eyebrows shot up, and Catra felt her cheeks get warm. 

“Oh! Um, yeah, sure! Thanks.” Catra swallowed. 

“I’ll go -- go grab one,” she said, turning around and heading back toward the stairs. Her foot caught on the first step and she tripped a little up the stairs, but caught herself on the railing at the last minute, looked around to make sure no one saw, and hightailed it up the stairs. 

She got back to the laundry room to find Adora sitting cross-legged on the washing machine, looking around at nothing in particular. 

“Here,” she said, reaching out. She glanced down as Adora grabbed the sheet from her and then stuck her hands in pockets and took a couple steps back and looked back at Adora as she climbed down from the washing machine. 

She looked pretty much like she did in high school, but brighter and … better. Her hair was in a short bob now, but she was still just as fit as she had been when they knew each other. Her bright blue eyes twinkled above her rosy cheeks as she smiled at Catra.

Catra swallowed and took a step back. “Anyway.”

“Um, thanks,” Adora said. She gestured to the dryer. “So I just … stick it in here?” Catra nodded, and Adora nodded back at her. “Cool. Cool.”

“Well, um …” Catra put her hand on the door. “See you around, I guess.” She turned and dashed up the stairs before she could do anything more embarrassing, slamming her door behind her a little too loud, and found herself once again sliding down to sit on the floor. _ Fuck. _


	4. Enchanted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpia takes a walk to clear her mind, and finds something else to think about instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi all! first chapter thats a) not catradora and b) written by me, the one who does Not own the account but is posting anyway. hope you enjoy! thanks for reading :)

Scorpia liked walks, and she especially liked them in the cold. Something about the crisp air made her feel more awake, helped her think better, and she loved just having the time to herself. 

She loved her moms, of course, but sometimes it just got a bit much. It’s not really like she was the one going through something- she wasn’t sick, and it wasn’t her wife she had to watch suffer for hours. She got to take her walks, and that was nice. 

The lights that accompanied her walk made the ground glow gently, and she fell into the rhythm of watching her feet move, doing her best to keep them even and between the lines of the concrete. It was nice to concentrate on something just for the sake of it, and the minutes passed quickly. 

Scorpia didn’t even realize she was headed into the flower shop until she heard the chime above her head and the warmth settling on her skin. It was sort of humid in there, but that was definitely to be expected for the flowers, and there wasn’t anyone at the front desk. 

That was okay. She wasn’t going to buy anything, she was just stopping in. Except, she thought, maybe her moms would like some flowers? For the windowsill, so they had something to look at that’s not just the same backyard and the same sad porch that didn’t get much use those days. Yeah, that sounded nice. 

Scorpia was thinking about how she didn’t know a thing about flowers when a soft voice from beside her asked, “Do you need help with anything?”

She looked down to see a smiling blonde girl with quite a few freckles splattered across her face and a sundress she must have been freezing in. Scorpia offered what she could only assume was a very helpless looking smile, and had a very hard time looking back to the flowers. 

“I don’t, uh- I don’t know anything about flowers,” she blurted out before having a chance to really think about it. “If I wanted to get something to say, like, ‘Get well soon and I’m sorry that you’re sick but I’m here to take care of you for as long as you need’, what would that look like?” 

The girl blinked a few times, then smiled again. “Of course! Um, give me a few minutes to get that together for you.” She turned, pausing to tilt her head for a moment, then hurried off to a different side of the store. Scorpia, feeling only slightly abandoned, made her way back to the front desk, and watched the girl dash around the store, gathering flowers. She was very gentle when cutting stems, but hurried when walking. 

“So, uh, how do you know what kind of flowers to pick?” 

The girl looked up from cutting a new kind of flower, the kind that looks like the stereotypical flower Scorpia would draw in elementary school on the side of her homework, white with a yellow center. She looked surprised for just a second before settling into a smile that suited her really nicely.

“Well, right now I’m cutting some chamomile. Nowadays it means rest and relaxation,

which is good for health, but it also used to symbolize strength through adversity, which I think is really beautiful for getting better.” 

She gathered the stems in her hands, and made her way to the desk, settling the bundle down. Scorpia watched as the girl looked around a bit. “Would you like a vase with these? They’re an extra 30 on top. But I think the flowers would be beautiful on their own.” 

Scorpia thought for a second, first about her moms and then about her bank account, and shook her head. They had glasses at home that would work just fine.  The girl smiled and grabbed something from underneath the work bench, and produced what looked like a block of foam. She had nice tanned and freckled hands, and Scorpia liked watching her nimble fingers bring the bundle of flowers together.

“These little guys here are tickseed, which mean, like, a constant cheeriness, which I think is good for the whole ‘I’m happy to be there for you, it’s really no problem.’” She stopped for just a second to smile at Scorpia once again, and Scorpia’s cheeks got a shade darker. “These are edelweisses”- she paused there, mouth twisting- “edelweiss?  _ Edelweisseseses _ ? Um, they’re also called noble whites, and they symbolize courage and devotion. Courage on the part of the sick, devotion on your part. These here are forget-me-nots, which is fairly self explanatory, and I thought they’d look nice. And of course, some baby’s breath, because what’s an arrangement without it?” 

She looked back up, smiling proudly. “And, voila!” 

Scorpia looked down at the bouquet, and felt a grin spreading. “Wow, that looks great!

You’re very talented! I’m sure they’re gonna love this.”

The girl’s smile got just a bit bigger, and grabbed the flowers from their place in the foam block. She reached under the bench again, pulling out a piece of brown paper, then placed it down and the flowers on top of it. She looked conflicted for a few seconds, then spoke tentatively. “So um, is this for a relative or something?” 

Scorpia must have given it away on her face, or something, because the girl quickly backtracked. “You - you don’t have to answer that, obviously, I’m sure it’s personal. Sorry. I didn’t really think before speaking.” She took a breath, then offered a rather shaky smile, tying off the paper with a very pretty bow. “Here’s this.” 

Scorpia paid, making quick and unimportant idle chat with the girl, talking about the weather and how the flower shop had been today, and even a cafe recommendation. Scorpia spent a good amount of this trying not to stare too hard, the invasive question from earlier forgotten in favor of the sheer amount of freckles covering the girl’s face. 

The bell of the door and the cold of the air brought Scorpia back to reality just fine, and she sighed as she started on the way back home, holding the bouquet of flowers close to her chest. She hadn’t come to this part of town on one of her walks before, but maybe she’d have to try that coffee shop some time.

At least she had something to show for her excursion this time. She hugged the flowers close to her chest and headed home, a small smile on her face. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A shopping trip in which Glimmer vaguely harasses one of the employees and less vaguely insults her friends sense in fashion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi again! we'll hopefully be updating twice a week since we've been making good progress. Thanks as always for reading/commenting/leaving kudos and hope you enjoy!

Glimmer looked up from her crossword puzzle on her phone as Adora got in the back of the car and slid into her regular position in the middle seat.

“Why can’t  _ I  _ ever sit up front?” Adora complained, dropping her red duffel bag in the seat next to her.

“Because you don’t call shotgun, and you don’t live with the chauffeur,” Glimmer said, twisting around to face Adora. “Soo … any update on the Catra situation?”

Adora tried to fight back a smile. “Uh. We ran into each other in the laundry room last night.”

Glimmer clapped her hands together and gave a happy little squeak. “So we’ll get to meet her soon?”

“Let Adora breathe, Glimmer,” Bow said without taking his eyes off the road.

Glimmer stuck her tongue out at him. 

“Soo … who’s ready for shopping?” 

Bow gave her a brief thumbs up and Adora groaned. “Come  _ on _ , Adora! You need something to wear for the Battle audition that isn’t ..” Glimmer made a circle in the air with her hand at Adora. “ _ This _ .”

Adora stuck her tongue out at Glimmer. “I’m only here because I need another pair of running shorts. I couldn’t get the burn smell out. Besides, shouldn’t we be focusing on getting a new bassist instead of getting new clothes? I feel like that’s more important.”

“It’s fine,” Glimmer said. “Perfuma has a friend who plays bass that she’s meeting up with today, so we’re totally free to get glammed up!”

Adora opened her mouth to argue, but Glimmer turned up the music and lifted her shoulders and arms in a “sorry, can’t hear you!” motion. They spent the rest of the ride listening to Glimmer’s playlist at full blast until they pulled into the parking lot of the mall, when Bow turned the music down.

“Bow!” Glimmer complained. “You’re such a mom!”

Bow didn’t reply until he had safely pulled into his parking spot and checked to make sure he was inside the lines. “Parking lots are some of the most dangerous places to drive. There’s like, 50,000 car crashes a year in parking lots. And I can’t think with the music too loud.”

They unbuckled and hopped out. Glimmer pinched Bow’s cheek playfully. 

“Well, thanks for the ride, Mom,” she said. “We really appreciate it.”

Bow smiled at her, and the three of them entered the mall. As usual, Adora took a moment to just stand in the middle of the food court in a trance until Bow and Glimmer grabbed her and moved her along. Once they dragged her past the Under Armor store, they let go of her arms, but still kept their eyes on her until they made it into Macy’s.

“Okay,” Glimmer said, rubbing her hands together. “First we get Bow’s outfit, then we deal with Adora.”

“Aren’t you gonna get anything?” Adora asked as they headed towards the men’s section.

“I already have a great selection of outfits to pick from,” Glimmer said. “You two, on the other hand …”

“Hey,” Bow said, offended. “At least I don’t wear sweatpants everywhere.” 

“Yes, but you simply cannot continue to wear your tuxedo t-shirt everywhere,” Glimmer said. “At least Adora pulls off the sweatpants.  _ You  _ just look like a dork.”

Bow ruffled Glimmer’s hair, and she ducked out of the way and grabbed his hand to lead him to try on some shirts that actually had buttons on them. After trying on a few different shirts in a very coming-of-age movie montage style, complete with the arms-crossed-headshakes for the first few, there was a white and gold button up that won the shared-glance-approving-nod, and Bow slung the hanger over his arm and gently placed the rejects on the return rack.

“Adora makeover time!” Glimmer jumped up and down twice and grabbed Adora’s hand. 

Adora groaned, but let Glimmer pull her along. Glimmer piled about ten different dresses and tops in Adora’s arms and shoved her into the dressing room, then sat down in the chair outside of the dressing room to wait to see how her handiwork would unfold. 

“Thanks for the shirt, Glimmer,” Bow said, sitting on the arm of the chair she was perched on. 

“You’re welcome,” Glimmer said. Bow grinned.

“But, I think there’s something you’re missing from your ensemble.” He pulled a disgustingly blue sun hat out from behind his back that had entirely too many flowers on it and shoved it onto Glimmer’s head, all the way over her eyes.

She yelped and jumped up, giggling. “Bow! What the -” She shook her head, trying to get the hat off, but it was on there good.

She grabbed his hands to force him to stop pushing the hat down and found their faces right next to each other, smiling, eyes locked, breathing a little harder than one reasonably would after a small tussle. 

“Please tell me this looks fine so I don’t have to try anything else on,” Adora said, walking right up to Glimmer and Bow. Glimmer blinked, dropped Bow’s hands, and looked at Adora.

She was in the red tunic-y shirt Glimmer had picked out and black leather pants. Glimmer whistled slowly, impressed.

“Actually, yes,” Glimmer said. “Lucky you.” She looked down. “And the Crocs really complete the look.” Adora rolled her eyes. “ _ Please _ tell me you own some boots or converse or something.”

Adora pursed her lips and thought for a moment. “I have, like, rain boots?”

Glimmer groaned and turned to Bow, who just shrugged at her and motioned to his Skechers. Were those light ups? 

“Okay. We’re going to Payless.  _ Now _ ,” Glimmer said.

“Should we pay for this stuff first, or …” Glimmer swatted Bow’s shoulder. 

Glimmer was practically dragging them when they made it to the shoe store across the store, Macy’s bags in tow. 

“I still need running shorts,” Adora grumbled.

“Okay. Bow needs some … not Sketchers, and Adora needs some boots.” Glimmer said, ignoring her. She marched towards the women’s shoes section.

“Hey! Need help with anything?” Glimmer looked up- and looked up some more- to see an extremely tall woman, wearing a huge grin and her platinum hair in an undercut. 

“Yes, we do,” Glimmer said, dragging Adora in front of her. “This girl needs some boots.”

“That’s awesome! We’ve got a ton of new stuff. What are you, a size 8? 8 and a half?”

“Something like that,” Adora muttered, giving Glimmer a dirty look. 

“Thanks, uh, Scorpia,” Glimmer said, looking at her nametag. “You help her with the boots, and we’ll be over here getting some shoes for this one.” She grabbed Bow’s forearm and pulled him towards the men’s section.

“Woah,” Bow said. He pointed at the register. “Isn’t that Kyle?”

Glimmer’s eyes widened. “It totally is!” She pulled a pair of shiny dress shoes off the rack and tossed them to Bow. “Try these on. I’ll be right back.” She marched up to the register and cleared her throat. Kyle jumped and fumbled with his phone, then shoved it in his pocket with more force than was strictly necessary. 

“Uh, Hi! Welcome to Payless, I mean, how can I, what can I do for you today?”

Glimmer raised an eyebrow. “Kyle, right?” He nodded, looking a little scared. “I saw your Snap story the other day. I didn’t know you were in a band.” 

“Oh … my, um... friend, Rogelio, is,” Kyle said, swallowing. “I just hang out there.”

“Rogelio, huh? Didn’t you guys get a new member recently? How did that happen?”

Kyle blanched, looking between Glimmer and the back of the store, presumably to where Scorpia was helping Adora. 

“Uh, yeah, I don’t- I don’t really go for anyone but Rogelio, though, they don’t- they don’t keep me in the loop-”

“I think you’re stressing him out, Glimmer,” Bow said quietly, walking up and putting his hand on Glimmer’s shoulder. Glimmer shrugged. 

“Shoes fit?” she asked. 

“Yep,” he said, placing them on the counter in front of Kyle, who was shaking as he rang them up. “You should go make sure Adora isn’t just getting another pair of running shoes.”

Glimmer headed back over to find Adora and the Payless employee sitting in awkward silence, Adora unlacing and pulling off some knock-off Doc Martens. 

“Those look great, Adora,” Glimmer said, glancing back and forth from each of them. Adora gave Glimmer her patented “I am so socially uncomfortable right now please help” look, and Glimmer nodded. “Okay! So, we’ll be taking those. Thanks for your help!”

She waited as Adora took the boots off and gave them back to Kyle to package up, then dragged Adora away from the tension. 

“Can I  _ please _ get my running shorts now?” Adora asked.

Glimmer laughed. “Yes. Thank you for your patience.”

Adora let out a big sigh.


	6. You Need to Calm Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A coffeeshop date and catching up, with no ulterior motives whatsoever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi again! thanks again for reading, and especially for the kudos/comments. hope you enjoy!

Mermista watched with mild interest as Perfuma made her way to the table where she was sitting, her salted caramel frappe looking both very delicious and way more sweet than she would admit to liking, and Perfuma’s own drink in her other hand. She sat down across from Mermista, giving her signature easy smile and sliding the frappe over. Mermista took a big gulp and sighed contentedly. 

“So, how’s the semester going so far? Are your classes any good?” Perfuma asked, taking a sip herself, eyebrows raised.

Mermista sighed again, though it was a different kind from the last. “Oh, you know. I’ve got an Anatomy of Marine creatures class that’s kicking my ass already, but we’ve just started, so there’s plenty of time for all my other classes to catch up. My professors all seem pretty cool, though. Uh, how’s the, um, the flower shop going?” 

Perfuma smiles. “Oh, it’s lovely! It’s pretty slow most days, so I get bored kind of easily, but you get to meet all kinds of interesting people, and it’s so nice being surrounded by plants all day. And it’s always quiet, so I don’t really ever get overwhelmed. Plus, my boss is really hands-off and trusts me, so I have a lot of creative freedom. It’s honestly as good as I could ask for. Are you still working that lab gig?” 

Mermista grinned. “Oh yeah. It’s really fun watching other people be the disasters for once, while I just watch and correct and only judge them a little bit. But, yeah, no, it’s great.” 

A cold wind from the front door had Mermista glance up, flushed, and immediately look back down to her drink, giving it an intense stare. Perfuma raised an eyebrow, checking over her shoulder to see Bow walk in with the very loud, annoying, very not-aware-of-personal-space exchange student from one of Mermista’s lab sections. She gave a small wave to Bow, dressed sharply in a white and gold button up and looking surprised to see her. Not that Mermista was looking in that direction at all. 

She wasn’t, because then she would have noticed that the exchange student was also dressed very sharply, his hair swooped in a way she guessed was sort of flattering, but she would have had to be glancing at him to notice this and that was impossible because her drink was far more interesting than he was, so why would she be looking at him instead? 

She heard their chatter growing closer as Bow made his way over and just kind of hovered there for a second. Mermista made a point to not look up and not to listen as they exchanged pleasantries, and sipped self consciously. There was a spot on the table, by the corner to her right, that kind of looked like a cat if you really stretched, and Mermista liked cats, so of course she’d be looking at it, instead of up at people she’d seen enough of, nothing against Bow. 

Then, suddenly, he was talking to her, and that was a lot harder to ignore. 

“Mermista, right?” 

She looked up, and the student whose name she honestly didn’t remember, though however intentional that was, she wasn’t sure, was looking at her earnestly, eyebrows raised. She raised one of her own in turn, trying her best to look unimpressed. Perfuma was still chatting with Bow, talking about something with the band they were in that Mermista was vaguely aware of.

“Do we know each other?” she asked, trying to keep her voice even. She was mostly successful. 

He gasped, hand on his chest in a play of mock offense Mermista had a hard time not scoffing at. 

“You don’t remember the charming man who rented you lovely ladies a kayak? My charm was not enough to turn your heart my way, to earn your admiration and fancy? The handsome, daring, dashing Sea Hawk was not enough to woo you immediately?” 

And then, for a reason Mermista never understood, the man (Sea Hawk, apparently) death dropped to the ground, hand thrown his forehead in a show of - of something. Mermista just stared, watching this man who had apparently also rented her a kayak on top of being in her lab and decided to use that as introduction, as heads turned to face them and stare and he brought himself back to his feet, a grin splitting his face in half. 

“Just kidding. I did rent you ladies a kayak once, though. I remember because your beauty was enough to light up the store, and also because you are one of my lab techs and I already recognized you from there. So what brings you to the company of my date’s lovely bandmate? A date of your own?” He waggled his eyebrows a little bit, and Mermista waited another second, waiting to see if he would keep talking. He didn’t. 

“Uh, no. It’s just - we’re just friends. Just, catching up, I guess. You’re on a date with Bow?”

His grin didn’t let up. If anything, it got wider. 

“Why, yes. It seems my charms do have some effect here, still, as we met eyes in the gym locker room and it was like electricity. Quite the charmer himself, Bow is. And, well, here we are.” 

Bow, apparently, was done with Perfuma, because he looked over at Sea Hawk, smiling softly. “Wanna actually get some coffee? Let these two get back to it?” 

Sea Hawk moved his grin from Mermista to Bow, which caused a pang in her chest she refused to put a name to. It happened again when he put his hand in Bow’s and when he laced their fingers together, and that’s when she looked back down at the cat-spot-thing on the table. The cat, fortunately, did not cause any pangs. Good. 

“Well, Miss Mermista Lab Tech, I will leave you ladies to it. Enjoy your not-date!” 

She didn’t look back up, but did manage a small nod, and took another consolatory drink of her frappe. Perfuma was quiet for a second as the boys made their way to the counter, and Mermista could feel it when Perfuma shifted her gaze over to her. It was piercing in a soft way, and she was sure Perfuma was trying to get a read on her. 

“The exchange student, huh?” Mermista definitely did not feel her face heat up. 

“Shut up,” Mermista said, but it held no punch. 

“I think he’s cute.” 

“He’s definitely not. He’s loud, and weird, and he literally fell to the ground when I preten-- when I didn't recognize him, so there’s no way. Besides, he’s English, and I don’t need that kind of long distance thing going on regardless, so even if I  _ did  _ like him there’s no point because I’m just going to get my heartbroken, and I’m sick and tired of that.” Mermista took a breath. “And he’s  _ not _ cute, and I  _ don’t _ like him. Shut up.” 

When she finally managed to draw her attention from the cat, she saw Perfuma just watching, smiling softly, in that frustrating way she had that makes you feel seen and understood and somehow not judged at all in a way that both made Mermista’s skin crawl, but also made her feel warm. Not that she’d ever tell Perfuma that. 

“So, um, how  _ is _ the band thing going?” Mermista asked, not changing the subject, of course, she was just curious about how her good friend Perfuma was doing in one of her passion projects. 

The smile faded a little bit, turning to something sheepish. This time it was Perfuma who looked away, twirling her tea around and dipping the bag a few times.

“Well, um actually- I had something to talk to you about, with the band.”

Mermista’s stomach started churning immediately, and she was fairly certain she knew where this was going.

“So um, you know Entrapta, our bassist right? How she was kind of flaky and… preoccupied, most of the time? Well, um. She quit. We don’t have a bassist, and I know you have stage anxiety and haven’t played in ages, and I know you said no the first time, I just think you’d be a great fit for it, and - ”

“No. I’m sorry, I know you guys are great and I respect the things you do, and the music thing and everything, but I both don’t have enough time and also would rather die than have to be seen on a stage. I just - I can’t. I’m sorry.” 

The look on Perfuma’s face as she stared her down turned Mermista’s emotions from anxiety to guilt, and Mermista had to steel herself to not immediately take it back. Damn, she had some powerful puppy dog eyes. 

“Are - are you sure? We don’t know anyone else who plays bass, and almost all of our songs have it, and there's no way we can rewrite all of our songs to not have it, and… yeah, okay. We’ll figure something out.” She gave a weak smile, looking back down.

Mermista sighed. “I’m - I’m sorry, Perfuma. I just - I can’t.” 

“It’s okay. I told them it would be a long shot. You’ve gotta look after yourself, of course.” And then Perfuma looked like herself again, eyes lighting up in excitement. “Oh my god, Mermista, I saw the best thing today. I was driving by this house, and there was this weird pile of junk in front, and there were just five cats, all of them all black with those piercing eyes, and oh my god…”

Mermista did continue listening, sort of, but if some of her thoughts (or eyes) wandered over to a certain overdramatic idiot, well, she couldn’t be faulted for that, right? The mind does wander, after all, and as much as Mermista liked cats, there may have been something slightly more interesting, after all. 

  
  



	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A sort of break in, and a sort of revelation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello we may or may not have forgotten to upload on wednesday and this chapter is super short but that's just the way the cookie crumbles. thanks all for reading/interacting! :)

Adora’s watch buzzed on her wrist, and she slowed her pace to a walk. Glimmer and Bow liked to make fun of her for running at night -- “What, are you  _ trying _ to become an intro to a Criminal Minds episode?” Glimmer liked to say -- but nighttime was good. It was like morning, except quieter and more relaxing. 

She especially liked running at night when she had a lot on her mind, and boy, did she have a lot on her mind today. She had turned her music up as loud as possible and tried to focus on her breath as she ran, but she couldn’t stop thinking about how Catra had given her a dryer sheet earlier. It was stupid, and really small, but still … Catra running up to her apartment to get it for her reminded her of when they were in high school and Catra would sprint to the cafeteria to get Adora a fork before Adora could get one for herself.

Taking her headphones out, Adora let out a deep sigh and tightened her ponytail. She turned the corner on the path back to her apartment building and got her keys out when she noticed someone lurking near the window on one of the ground floor apartments. She put her hand in her pocket where she kept her switchblade, Grayskull, and narrowed her eyes.

“God - fuck!” All the adrenaline that had been building up rushed into her stomach and cheeks as she recognized the voice. Her mouth felt dry.

She watched as Catra punched her window in frustration and cursed some more. Biting her lip, she took her hand off her switchblade and slowly walked towards Catra and her window.

“Uh, Catra?” Catra flinched and turned around, holding out a can of pepper spray. Then her eyes widened and she lowered the can.

“Adora,” she said. She looked at the can of mace and put it back in her bag. “Sorry. You scared me.”

“Sorry,” Adora said, kicking a bit of rock. “Uh, what are you doing?”

“Oh.” Catra grimaced with embarrassment. “I kind of … someone I know was trying to hand me my keys and she just … dropped them into a grate. So I’m locked out.”

Adora smirked. “You  _ still _ don’t have a lanyard?”

Catra rolled her eyes, her shoulders loosening a little. “What can I say? I’m a carabiner kind of girl.”

“Maybe you should get a thicker carabiner.” Adora put her hands on her hips and considered the window in front of them. “So, this is your apartment?”

“Yeah,” Catra said. “I got it mostly open, but this fucking screen is stuck in the tracks.”

Adora took a few steps closer and ran her hands over the windowsill. 

“You janked it open too fast,” Adora murmured. Catra rolled her eyes and scoffed a bit. “Here - if you can pinch this part in, I can maybe slide this back …”

Catra grabbed the part she was pointing out and held it back. Adora looked at how her eyebrows bunched together in concentration and smiled a bit, remembering how she’d watch Catra struggle with calculus tests from across the room. 

“Are you gonna help me?” Catra shifted her gaze up to Adora’s eyes. Adora caught herself and blinked.

“Uh, right. Sorry,” she said, pulling on the screen until it slid across the tracks. “There we go!” 

“Thanks,” Catra said sheepishly, looking at her feet. She looked up at Adora and looked as though she was about to say something, but then changed her mind and climbed in her window. Adora raised her hand in a goodbye and Catra nodded back at her. 

As she walked away, she heard Catra moving around inside her apartment -- she hadn’t closed the window, even though it was almost freezing. 

***

Adora got up to her apartment and turned her shower on. She took her sweatshirt off and sat on the closed toilet seat with her chin on her hands as steam filled the room.

She pulled her phone out from her running fanny pack and looked around even though there was no one else in the room with her. She scrolled through Instagram and made a couple searches until she found what she was looking for - @bassisct_. Catra hadn’t changed her username since high school, and it looked like she still hadn’t posted since middle school. 

Steam started to collect on the phone screen, so Adora set it down and took her shower. She wondered if Catra still had the same phone number. She probably did, but she hadn’t responded when Adora had sent her that cat meme, so either she was just that pissed at Adora or had gotten a new number and hadn’t bothered to tell her. Both were possible, knowing Catra. 

Adora finished her shower and started drying herself off. She grabbed her phone again and opened it up to Catra’s Instagram profile. She tried to wipe the condensation off the screen and found herself on the page of posts Catra had been tagged in. She smiled slightly as she saw the pictures she’d tagged her in from high school, then looked at the most recent picture and knit her eyebrows and tapped on it.

Her mouth dropped open.

“Oh my  _ god _ ,” she said. “God  _ damn _ it, Catra!”


	8. Illicit Affairs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bow tries his best to deal with everyone's issues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so turns out neither of us can remember to upload on wednesday so that may just be a crapshoot. This one is super short though, so we'll be posting two today.  
> thanks so much for reading/kudos/comments, it means a bunch to us!

**BEST FRIEND SQUAD!!!**

**tim mcgraw’s new neighbor:** guys im going to lose my fucking mind

**tim mcgraw’s new neighbor changed their username to sword lesbian**

**sword lesbian:** I found out what fucking band entrapta is in

**“girl boss”:** we know, it’s kyle’s

**sword lesbian:** ITS CATRAS BAND

**sword lesbian:** I SAW IT ON HER INSTAGRAM 

**thanks king:** Uh oh

**“girl boss”:** oh my fucking god

**“girl boss”:** that bitch!!

**thanks king:** glimmer!

**girl boss”:** what???? It’s her fault we don’t have a fucking bassist 

**sword lesbian:** i mean techjnincally it’s entrapta’s fault

**sword lesbian:** I don’t think catra KNOWS entrapta was in our band

**sword lesbian:** ...does she?

**thanks king:** I don’t think she’d do something like that, Adora

**sword lesbian:** whatever

**sword lesbian:** and perfuma hasn’t convinced that other girl to join??

**“girl boss”:** not yet >:(

***

Bow sighed and put his phone down. Adora was technically the frontman of their band, but a lot of the time Bow felt like he had to play the fiddle  _ and _ the peacemaker. Glimmer and Adora were really good at writing and playing music, but they had a hard time with the more grown-up aspects of running a band. 

They had been counting on Perfuma to convince her friend to join their band, and now Bow knew it was up to him to figure something out. His phone buzzed again and he sighed, expecting more indignant rage, but this time it was Sea Hawk. He smiled. 

**Sea Hawk:** Cheerio, my fine Bow! How is your day going??

**Bow:** Ahh. Well. It’s okay. Not as good as yesterday :)

**Sea Hawk:** Right on. Not sure how a day without coffee with such a charming man can measure up to one with ;)

**Bow:** :)

**Bow:** You know the girls we ran into there?

**Sea Hawk:** The lovely Miss Mermista and her soft spoken friend?

**Bow:** Yeah, them lol. Perfuma (blonde one) is in my band and she was trying to convince Mermista to join, but it sounds like Mermista said no. 

**Bow:** do you know why?

**Sea Hawk:** Why, I didn’t know Mermista played an instrument! Let me guess - the xylophone? Kazoo?

**Bow:** uh ,,, no… she plays bass lol

**Bow:** though that would be funny

**Bow:** we really need a bassist

**Bow:** you don’t happen to know any bassists, do you?

**Sea Hawk:** Well, apparently I know Mermista!

**Bow:** right … preferably a bassist that will join our band

**Sea Hawk:** oh. Then no.

**Bow:** ah … oh well :/

**Sea Hawk:** I’d sure hate to disappoint. Let me see if I can’t work some of that magic Sea Hawk charm ;)

**Bow:** oh?

**Sea Hawk:** ;) ;)


	9. ...Ready for it?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sea Hawk tries his best to convince Mermista to come to a party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more seamista! They're so much fun to write.   
> Thanks for reading and the like! hope you enjoy :)

He wasn’t even trying to be subtle, really. That’s what made it so annoying. 

Yet another tiny ball of paper hit the side of Mermista’s head and she sighed, refusing to even look at it. She busied herself instead with  _ trying  _ to listen to the question someone was asking her, but she was just so aggravated that she couldn’t. She gave a weak smile to the student, mumbled a “one second” with as much exasperation as she could fit into her voice, and leaned over to pick up the crumpled ball on the floor. 

Mermista closed the paper in her fist and threw it pointedly back, landing it square on the exchange student's forehead -- Sea Hawk. His name was  _ Sea Hawk _ \-- and he gave a gasp in mock offense, then moved to uncrumple it. Mermista honestly hadn’t even thought about what was on it before she threw it, but after he waggled his eyebrows, she wished she had. 

Apparently, the student she was supposed to be helping had figured out the question on her own, and Mermista told herself it was better they figure these things out on their own to alleviate the embarrassment she felt over letting some boy distract her from doing her job. She sighed again, patted the table as though she was trying to comfort someone and was very bad at it, cringed a little, then made her way to the culprit in question. 

“You have to stop. I am supposed to be doing my  _ job _ , and that’s harder when  _ someone  _ keeps throwing balls of paper that don’t even have anything important to say.” 

Sea Hawk stared back innocently, and Mermista found herself even more annoyed that he had such powerful puppy dog eyes -- as much as she wished she could be immune, she had always been susceptible to a good guilting.

“Me? Throwing notes in class? Do I look like a middle schooler to you?” Sea Hawk asked, voice about an octave higher than normal. 

Mermista leveled a stare, eyebrow raised, trying her very best to look unimpressed. He raised his hands in surrender, dropping the innocent smile in favor of a wide grin. 

“Okay, okay. But, to be fair, the first couple of notes actually had things on them. You just happened to pick the one that only had hearts and the like on it. Fate, maybe?”

“Look, if you have something you need to ask, raise your hand or use your voice like a normal person. What did you need? Unlike some people, I have things to do that aren’t harassing people trying to do their jobs.” 

Sea Hawk smiled up at her, a really strange mix between shit-eating and genuine, like he was happy to be talking to her. Well, maybe she was just projecting. This smile just happened to be less shit eating than the rest. 

“I’ve been talking to Bow, you know. They’re all super worried about their band, and what they’re going to do without a bassist. In fact, they may not be able to participate in their competition. It’s a shame there’s no beautiful, talented women they know who play bass and could totally kick up their aesthetic ten notches. But, that’s besides the point. Apparently, they’re having a party this weekend, and both Bow and Perfuma have been asking me to see if you’d like to come, since I’ve shown both of them the prowess of my persuasive capabilities. Which basically means I  _ will  _ be pestering until you agree.” 

Mermista rolled her eyes. “No. I have far too many things to take care of, and it’s just going to be a trap to convince me to play the bass. Nice try, though.”

Sea Hawk actually pouted at this, like he was a child. Maybe he was more like a middle schooler than Mermista thought. She raised an eyebrow, challenging him.

“You haven’t heard the end of this, Miss Mermista. I  _ will _ be convincing you to attend this party, and when you agree, you’ll have a lovely time.” And then he just turned back to his assignment, trying his best to look as though he’d worked on it at all. 

Mermista sighed, and went to go help another student with their hand raised. 

***

Mermista  _ hated  _ essays with every fiber of her being. It was a huge reason she went into STEM in the first place, to avoid this very conundrum -- a blank document, taunting her with a blinking cursor and nothing else. The coffee she’d decided to treat herself to wasn’t helping as much as she wanted it to, and now she just felt guilty about the unnecessary purchase. She was as helpless as when she’d left her apartment in search of greener pastures. 

She allowed herself a groan and plopped her head down, careful to avoid the keyboard as she did so. This was worth 30 percent of her grade -- she could  _ not _ afford to do poorly, but she couldn’t even get the first couple words on the paper. When she heard someone sit across from her, it was all she could do not to scream. 

Why on  _ Earth  _ would someone sit at a table with a stranger, especially a stranger in emotional distress? She looked up, and it was Sea Hawk, giving her a look somewhere between worry and amusement. Now she was really about to burst. 

“Can I  _ help  _ you?” Mermista snapped, grabbing her drink with enough force to push some out of the hole for the straw so it splashed on her hand. She felt tears pricking at her eyes. Good god, could she not embarrass herself on top of everything else? She blinked them away, and took a deep breath. 

He had his hands raised, and the amusement was mostly gone. “Sorry, sorry, I’ll leave if you want me to, I just -- you looked like you needed some help, or something, and if nothing else, I’m a great cheerleader.” 

She glared, took an indignant sip of her supreme caramel bliss and put it back down a little more aggressively than was strictly necessary. 

“So, um, what’s the culprit this time? One of those pesky labs that always seem to make sense when you’re doing it and then after you wonder what the hell you were on in class that let you understand what was going on? I hate those,” he said, and Mermista thought this might be the most normal he sounded -- no theatrics in his voice, just him genuinely trying to help and be kind, though still with a touch of that signature humor she’d found herself not despising. Maybe she should throw him a bone.

“Well, I’m -- I’m supposed to be writing an essay on the negative effects of artificial reefs, but I just -- I _hate_ essays, and I’m supposed to do all this research for it, and we haven’t even touched on that in class, and it’s supposed to be, like, eight pages, and I don’t want to put it off until last minute but I have no idea where to start, but I hate hate _hate_ finding sources because I’ve heard my professor is so picky about them and what if they’re not good enough --” 

And then he was putting his hand over Mermista’s -- the one without the coffee in a death grip -- and talking over her, and normally she hated that, but he wasn’t being cheeky, just was trying to calm her down. He was speaking and she … actually liked his voice. She hadn’t noticed that before, so she stopped talking and decided to let him talk her through it. 

“Hey, hey, it’s gonna be okay. You made the wise decision of getting started on a semester-long project at the beginning of the semester, which is better than most students do, so you’re already way ahead of the curve. You’ve got plenty of time, so the first thing you need to do is get a plan on how you’ll tackle it, right? Pardon the pun, I suppose. So since you’ve given yourself so much time, you can put together a time table or something. I don’t know, I’m usually one of the students throwing everything two weeks before, so the planning stage is something I’ve never really had the luxury of having.” 

Mermista paused for a second, and was surprised at how much she felt better already. He had a good point -- that was the whole reason she was starting now, a full 13 weeks before the paper was due, and she had more than enough time. If she could just get a timeline down today, and work more on it next week, she’d be in great shape. Right, okay. 

Sea Hawk had stopped talking, and was just looking at her. He had a really small smile on his face, which was almost unsettling. She’d only ever seen him with an insanely wide grin or some other mask of acting some type of way. Why was he looking at  _ her  _ like that, after she’d just gotten over some weird bought of anxiety over an essay that was literally months away? 

“Right,” she said, speaking slowly. “Um. Good points? You’re right. Uh, thanks. Thank you. I sometimes need a little help getting out of my own head, I guess. But, um, yeah. I’ll do that, I think. A timetable?”

He nodded, looking proud of himself. Yeah, that seemed more like him. His wide grin was back, and Mermista later would tell herself she imagined the small smile before. 

“Great. Now that you’re back to competent and capable Mermista, have you changed your mind on a party that would definitely help you get your mind off some of this work? It’s not even like you have the excuse of finals or even midterms, you know. It’s okay to take some time to decompress,” and he was looking at the drips of coffee under Mermista’s hand. She grabbed a napkin. 

“I really don’t want to give you all any more time than I have to to guilt me. I’m not entirely stupid.” She was looking at the napkin as she wiped the table, and so was not able to look at Sea Hawk and his puppy dog eyes. It was safer that way. 

“No one said you were stupid, Mermista. Your friends are worried about you, and just also happen to need a bassist. But mostly the first thing. You should relax, have some fun! They’re a really good group. I think you and Bow would get on famously,” he said, and Mermista felt that pang in her chest again she refused to name. 

“Right. I’ll uh -- I’ll think about it, I guess.”

And she looked up this time, and he was grinning again. 

“Great! Do you mind if I do some homework while I’m here?” And then he was pulling out his laptop before she could answer, and she sighed as she started typing away on her own computer. 

***

Sea Hawk both loved and hated his job with the kayak rental store - loved it because they were flexible, the owners loved him and thought his accent was precious, and because he got to see all kinds of fitness people, which he could bond with and have lovely conversations with. He didn’t have many responsibilities, and had a great view over a lake. 

But Christ, if it wasn’t boring as anything. He spent most of his shifts desperately trying to keep talking with anyone coming in for a rental for as long as he could justify, cleaning anything that had even a speck of dirt on it, and mindlessly scrolling through his phone. Once upon a time, he thought he may have loved a job like this -- nothing really to take care of, getting to chat, sitting on his ass and honestly, just chilling -- but the time dragged by like nothing else. 

He felt foolish when the door chimed and he looked up like a dog when their owner pulled up to the driveway, and even more foolish when his face entirely lit up upon seeing who it was. Normally, Sea Hawk was the kind of guy who didn’t care what people thought of him or his ceaseless flirting. He did it for fun, and it never really meant anything, and it never went anywhere. 

So he couldn’t explain what it was about Mermista that made him so desperate to genuinely impress her -- have her actually like him, and not just think he was a bumbling fool with a big mouth. It was getting ridiculous. 

He hadn’t done a great job of that so far. He liked to believe the eye rolls and sighs were fond, but some small part of him was convinced she couldn’t stand him. He pushed that to the back of mind, and set out to do what he does best -- barrage someone with his jokes and well wishes until they were too used to it to turn him away. 

“Hello, lovely Miss Mermista,” he said, speaking a little too loudly, but deciding to run with it. “What brings you to our fine establishment this morning? Gone too long without seeing me?” 

There was that eye roll, again. He wondered if she was aware she was doing it, or if it just came naturally to her. Probably some mix of both, he decided, and stood up straight. 

“Just a kayak rental, please. It- it helps me clear my head.”

“That essay of yours still proving a nuisance? Or is it a lab this time?” he asked, moving over to the rental management-machine-thing. “How long would you like it?”

“An hour, please. And no, actually, it’s- something else. It’s not important.” 

She wasn’t looking at him. It felt like every time she was, she was levelling a glare, or raising an unimpressed eyebrow, with the exception of the rare surprised smile, as though she didn’t think he was capable of being genuine. Not that he blamed her for that. It was exactly the reputation he was going for, after all. 

“Oh? Well, best of luck with that. I hope kayaking helps,” he said, after deciding he’d leave the pestering about the party until after she’d cleared her head, and then together they grabbed a kayak and moved it to the lake, and he even managed to not talk her ear off the entire time.

Sea Hawk really tried, for the first thirty or so minutes, not to stare out the window at her while she kayaked. He knew it was creepy, and weird, and so he did his best to distract himself with his phone, and feigned cleaning a few shelves, but he still found his eyes wandering back. She was very fast, he noticed, quite practiced. Her hair looked shiny even from inside the shop, and she was tackling this with the same sort of determination he’d seen in her in class, or when they spent the afternoon working on homework together, even when he’d come back for his backpack and she was still there cleaning lab equipment. 

Eventually he gave up on the pretense of not staring, and instead devoted his energy to not looking struck by her, tried to make it look like he was just looking at the lake. He felt like he was sort of succeeding, until there was a voice to his left that made him jump a good foot in the air. 

“What are you looking at?” Bow said from over his shoulder, looking in the direction Sea Hawk was staring, and graciously ignoring the garbled yell Sea Hawk let out. 

“The -- I’m just looking at the lake, of course. It’s quite beautiful today.” 

Bow snorted -- he actually snorted. “Sure. The lake. Any luck getting her to come to the party?”

Sea Hawk took this moment to actually face him and was rewarded with a kind, teasing smile. 

“No, not yet. I’m still working on it. She’s quite stubborn. I’d say it’s unfortunate, but it’s actually rather charming.” 

Bow gave him a knowing look Sea Hawk chose to ignore. Then he looked down, and Bow was holding a drink and holding it out for him, and Sea Hawk took it gratefully. 

“Well, I was just in the neighborhood getting something to drink, and remembered you were working, so. Thought I’d bring you something. I’ll leave you to your lake staring, then,” Bow said, and Sea Hawk noted it was all fond teasing, nothing jealous or mean. He offered a small smile in return, and gave Bow a peck on the cheek. 

“Thanks, love. I’ll see you tomorrow?” 

Bow nodded, and moved to leave. “See you then! Try not to have too much fun without me.” 

Sea Hawk smiled to himself as he took a sip -- iced caramel macchiato, his favorite. 

He was once again brought back to himself as the bell rang again, and Mermista was standing there, kayak in tow. He put his drink on the counter in front of him and hurried to help her. 

“You guys get a cafe in here or something?” she asked, and Sea Hawk smirked. 

“No, Bow brought it to me,” he replied, and felt something strange in his chest as her face twisted briefly, and then he had to look away to put it back on a rack. 

He turned around to see Mermista pulling out her wallet, and waved her away. She looked confused, holding out her card insistently, and he grinned. 

“It’s on the house! You’re basically a regular at this point, so. No worries,” he said, feeling proud of himself. 

She levelled a stare at him. “I’ve been here three times.”

“Yes, well, most people have been here zero to one times, so you’re doing quite well. Seriously, don’t worry about it.”

Her eyes narrowed, and he kept speaking so she wouldn’t get a chance. 

“Oh, hey, you know how you can pay for it? Well, see, there’s this party some good friends of mine are throwing, and they’ve requested your attendance --”

“Okay, you know what? Fine. I will go to your party, on the condition that not one person asks me about being their bassist. If one person asks, I will leave. Okay?” 

Sea Hawk honestly couldn’t have done anything about the grin that split his face if he wanted to. Shit, he was maybe a little too excited about this girl coming to one party, but he couldn’t help it. 

“Great. Great! You’ll have fun, I promise. They’re a good group, I promise,” he said, and he watched as she pulled her phone out. 

“Sure,” she replied, sounding unconvinced. “When is it, then?”


End file.
